Its Not the End of the World, But You Can See It from Here... Serving God's People In Rural Vermont...

"I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores." Amos answered to Amaziah,

The Dresser of Sycamore Trees

A Review by James Romano

Hello 1000 Bookies!!  This week my latest blog posting is from the list of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is The Dresser of Sycamore Trees by Garret Keizer.  The 1,000 Book list has a subtitle, A Life Changing List.  And when I read books such as The Dresser of Sycamore Trees, the subtitle comes pops up in my mind.  This story is a memoir, of a lay Episcopal minister in a rural town in the Northeast Kingdom area of Vermont.  Garret “Gary” Keizer has published 8 books and numerous articles over the years.  Mr. Keizer has strikes me as a “regular” guy, the same man today as he was in 1990-1991 when he wrote The Dresser of Sycamore Trees.  How can I say that?  After reading this book, I emailed Mr. Keizer just to say I loved his book and his response was almost both immediate and kind. 

The Dresser of Sycamore Trees is a just over 200 pages long.  However, what I have learned regarding shorter books, every word is loaded with meaning, the author uses fewer words for greater impact.  This also means that the reader must pay attention.  The title is derived from the book of Amos in the Old Testament.  Amos is considered in bible scholarship as the first prophet in terms of timeline.  I always personally think that the prophets were like Charlie Brown, everything bad happens to them.  When I scan the title, what comes to mind is the North American Sycamore Trees but that is NOT the same as the ancient bush/tree referred to as a sycamore.  The Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible explains that the biblical sycamore tree, related to the fig tree, has smaller and less useful fruit than a true fig. 

I guess I equate humanity with less useful fruit, but Amos and Garret believe that is important to tend to these sycamore trees…tend to the souls of humanity. As the lay Episcopal minister, Garret tends to Christ Episcopal Church in Island Pond, Vermont.  The opening paragraph really was a great description of his life:

“If I tend to my driving, and put off getting mile and gas until tomorrow, I can be home before my wife goes to bed.  She will ask me how it went, and I will tell her I am happy with the visit.  I took Communion to one person, had supper with another, met someone on the street who is ‘thinking about coming to church’ and wound up the clock enough to last until Sunday…And I   tell myself by way of exultation what I now tell my reader by way of warning: it won’t get much better than this.”

Garret is doing God’s work in in the Northeast Kingdom.  And the book his odyssey on how he arrived there and how he moved forward. Garret is not exorcising demons, he is not holding revivals in tents or stadiums, and nor is denouncing fellow Christians.  Garret is serving God by tending to the souls.  Finding God in what we would consider the small gestures.  An example, Gary goes to a nursing home once a week to meet a very old gentlemen named Pete.  Pete is a curmudgeon, but in Gary’s small acts of service--washing his feet, taking him out for a hotdog, or reading his letters to him is the work God wants us to do.  It’s not the large, public gestures, it’s the small private ones because they are big to the person you are helping. 

Garret discusses his mission that brought him to Island Pond.  His discusses his sabbatical at a monastery which was fascinating.  He bonded with a soul.  One part of his stay he discusses the library at the monastery which made me laugh at loud.  “Years afterward, when I read Umberto Ecco’s The Name of the Rose with its labyrinthine monastic library, I would recall the library at my retreat, no because it was so large or its denizens so sinister, but because it was mildly forbidden place.”  The Name of the Rose is on the 1,000-book list and it was such a crazy freaking read, however I mention it because I appreciated the literary reference and the trouble one goes through to make it.

The book discusses some interesting topics, such as a cultist religious minority that comes to the Island Pond area: The Community Church.  The Community Church wants to return to what Jesus intended in the first centuries of the early church.  Women are subservient, children are dealt with harshly and men grow long beards. Gary engages this sect.  He attends their Sabbath service and goes to the house of a member.  He strives to understand even if he doesn’t not agree.  In another example of the small mercies in life, Gary engages with a transsexual member of his community helping take him to a ministry that would be accepting of him. Now that would be considered mainstream but not thirty years ago.  His mission and truth are a beautiful reflection on what I think God would want to see. 

Gary had a fantastic quote, “One of the things I needed to prune from my life, I said, was an obsession to justifying myself.  There were simply too many judges in my head—too many suckers on the branch—and I was wasting too much of my moral sap in seeking approval.”  Those words inspired me to quiet critics, mostly myself, in my life. The book has a profound and simple wisdom which I believe we all need to absorb. 

I identified with this memoir because Christ Episcopal Church reminded me of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  Gary’s church is small, and the parishioners tend to be older.  Resurrection is the same.  I am a member of the church council and I help organize special events.  I grew up Roman Catholic and still consider myself a Roman Catholic.  My wife is Lutheran.  We married at a Lutheran Church.  Protestant churches seem much more friendly to me.  While I will never not be a Roman Catholic, all my friends are through the Lutheran Church and I enjoy the fellowship and the service.  My intention is to provide this book to my colleagues on the church council for Christmas.   

This book also has inspired me to travel.  I want to see Island Pond, hike in the hills and mountains around, maybe even drive to Canada.  I want to see Christ Episcopal Church myself and say a pray there, maybe even take a photo.  Reading and travel cure ignorance, and I can’t wait to see the town myself. 

The message I took away from this book is service to others, no matter how small is pleasing to God.  You do not need large gestures and thousands of parishioners.  Sycamore trees in the sense of the story are us, and we need to tend to the sicklier tree with the sourest fruit to help it along.  If you need to find your mission in this world pick up this inspirational book. 

Keep Reading My Friends…